Sybil Dunlop, BridgeTower Media Newswires
I'm on vacation this week. But I'm working. Not just writing this article (which counts as fun) but attending a series of conference calls, undertaking research, and finishing up an RFP. This might be the most that I have ever worked on a vacation. And I'm OK with it. Here's why.
When I was younger - earlier in my practice - it was easier to take real vacations. This required elaborate and extensive preparation, but was doable. First, I would calendar my vacation on everyone's calendar with whom I worked. Second, I would make sure everything big was taken care of in advance. Briefs were written. Discovery was responded to. Answers were drafted. And finally, I would assign every task that I knew of to someone else. My assistant would take care of filing the brief and the Answer. A paralegal would ensure that the discovery was served. With everything taken care of, I could actually relax on vacation, checking in once a day to see if anyone had questions or new emergencies had come up.
Now, however, I find myself at a point in my career where I am getting calls from clients or I am the primary person running a case. And there are certain things that I can't simply delegate. I can't delegate calling a client to let them know that we got a disappointing legal decision. I can't delegate the first phone call with a mediator because I want to get to know the mediator. I want to hear their voice, their concerns, and get a sense as to how the mediation will unfold.
But because the law is such an interesting profession - and many of us are business owners - friends and family can have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that I want to work (just a bit) on the vacation. For the past few years, my in-laws would shake their heads and say that my "boss" must have no sympathy to never let me get away. This is despite repeated attempts to explain that the "boss" was me; I wanted to serve my clients and sometimes there was no one else who could step in. This week, I'm at a beach house in North Carolina. One of my friends keeps telling me "just don't respond to emails; that's what I'm doing." But she works for a corporation where this approach is encouraged. And I work for individual clients whose problems are not going away while I'm on vacation. I'm not alone. Three in five US workers who take vacations admit to doing work while on the vacation.
And to be perfectly honest, I do have some fear about telling clients that I am on vacation. Several of my corporate clients appreciate (among others of my skills) the fact that I am incredibly responsive. In this increasingly competitive legal market, I have some concern that taking a vacation may be viewed as a sign of weakness. For this reason, I never post vacation photos on Facebook or even include an out-of-office message that says I am on vacation.
I know some of you will be shaking your heads at this last paragraph. I know this isn't right. And I would be incredibly understanding if my lawyer wanted a week off and let me know that they would be unavailable for a bit. And we should be forgiving. Vacations are good for us.
They reduce stress. An American Psychological Association study concluded that vacations reduce stress by removing people from the activities and environments that they associate with stress and anxiety. A Canadian study of lawyers similarly found that taking vacations helps alleviate job stress. And the effects last beyond the vacation itself: A study from the University of Vienna found that after taking time off from work, vacationers had fewer stress-related physical complaints and they continued to feel better five weeks later.
But it's more than even just stress. The 1992 Framingham Heart Study tracked workers over 20 years. And it found that "men who don't take vacations were 30 percent more likely to have heart attack and for women it went up to 50 percent." So I get it, taking vacation is important. But if you are working on vacation, is it still a vacation?
On some level, just the fact that I am here (even if I'm working) is a bit of a triumph. Fifty-four percent of Americans don't take the vacation days that they do have. But I do try to schedule time where I put the phone down. The beach is good for this - one year I dropped my iphone in a lake responding to emails and learned the lesson that beaches, water and phones aren't compatible. Biking also ensures that I can't be on the phone. Meals are sacred.
I'm trying to find a happy medium. My friends and family think I might be working a bit too much. But I'm happy. I'm relaxing in moments - dinners, bike rides, beach moments. And it feels pretty good.
Published: Wed, Aug 29, 2018
